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Record Fields for round 3 of the Bathurst Wallabies Triathlon Season on the weekend (16/December/2018). Overall Winners where Nick North (Long Course) and Mark Windsor (Short Course) however the Women Categories are dominating the racing with huge numbers and some inspirational performances. The Women Long course was a super race Peta Cutler drawing clear in the final stages of the run to defeat Hollee Simons by 54sec with Kristy Powyer, Jennifer Arnold and Katie Prior continuing there amazing improvement to finish top 5. Top Bathurst Athlete Kirsten Howard defeating Renee Covington (who was one of 3 generations of Covington girls racing the event). Also impress efforts by Stacey Jones, Alison Corcoran and Bronwyn Starkey to take top 5 honours.However many of the best performances where by some of the new starters furthers back in the results – Check all the stars that finished the event below.

2018 Bcc Hill Climb - Hen & Chicken Road.A new course on Hen & Chickens road was used for the 2018 Bathurst Hill Climb, the new course much shorter than those used in the past. Cow Flat was approximately 5km and Mt Panorama 3kms so obviously the 800m dash up Hen&Chickens was quite a power effort.

Decades of Triathlon History at Forbes:Lake Forbes is certainly a great spot for a triathlon.. The local club has been holding events there for at lest 30years, that I known of.

In the 1980s Triathlon bust onto our TV screens through the Wide World of Sports coverage of the Hawaiian Ironman. Orange and Dubbo lead the way with a number of big bush promotions before Cowra and Mudgee joined them as the key clubs in the Central West Interclub series. However in the late 80’s a number of the smaller clubs held big events.

In 1988 Wellington (Tony Vernon) and Parkes (Secretary Geoff West) where 2 of the local triathlon committees that put up prizemoney to attracted some high profile triathletes to their events.

The promotions worked with the Wellington race won by Hall of Fame triathlete Bruce Thomas (prior to his feats at Hawaii) and also included stars such as Simon Skillicorn and Ron Bonham. Top Australian Female Triathlete Louise McKinnley was the best placed female at Wellington.

It was a similar story at 1988 Forbes Triathlon where Commonwealth Games representative Chris Unicomb defeated another National Star Mark Pringle leaving locals Kent Marchant (Dubbo) Mark Windsor (Bathurst) Tony Vernon (Wellington) to fight it out for third; with Lyn McDonnell winning the women’s honors

Bathurst Athletes on the Podium at Forbes:Great day for the Bathurst Club at the 2018 Forbes Triathlon.

Crocs Super SprintAngus Argent-Smith (41:28) was the fastest overall however the Try Hards Team took line honours in 40:12. Bathurst made the podium in the Female category with Carol North recording a slick 45:41 to finish 3rd overall behind the very experienced Mudgee Triathlete Tracy Kastelein and Amanda Sullivan.

Crocs ChallengePlenty of pace on in the The Challenge event (750m 30km 7km) with 2015 Forbes Triathlon winner Angus Westaway (West Wylong) leading after the swim, however the King of the Forbes Triathlon Nick North took control in the cycle leg and quickly established a winning lead with his Bathurst Teammate riding through the field to move to second. Bathurst taking the top 2 placing with Nick North recording 1:20:56 and Mark Windsor 1:22:29 and Angus Westaway third in 1:26:17 with Stephen Trevaskis 4th Very impressive effort by Albury Triathlete Angla Sandral who not only won the Overall Female Section in 1:30:01 but also finished 5th overall in front of strong Bathurst Triathlete Steve Jackson (1:31:05). Bathurst also on the Podium in the Female Challenge Podium with Hollee Simon runner up to Sandral with Dubbo Triathlete Katherine Mellor 3rd.

Crocs Long CourseIt was a tough day for the Long Course Competitors with the temperature up in the 30s for the 2km swin 90km Bike 21km run. Bathurst Triathetes Luke Gillmer and Thomas Hanrahan sat first and Second after the Swim however former Young Footballer Michael Stallard who has been the find of the season for the Cowra Triathlon Club dominated the Cycle lead to set up a win in the tough event. Stallard certainly had to work for it with Hanrahan finishing very fast in the run leg, finishing only 40seconds behind Stallard with Gillmer third. Former Orange Professional Jess Richards defeating Sonia Commins in the female section.

2018 Bathurst Road ChampionshipsBathurst Cycling Club held its 2018 Road Championships on the Weekend with 4 Separate Grades contested on the Historic Vale Circuit.

While the Vale Circuit is famous as a motor racing circuit hosting the Australian National TT in the 1930s the circuit and parts of it have been used for cycling events for more than 100years. While the first Bathurst Cycling Championship took place in 1885.

This year the Bathurst Cycling Club also hosted a championship Road Series as well as the weekend’s stand alone Road Championships. However todays Championships reinforced the results of the Series with the same two riders Bradley Rayner and Mark Windsor finishing first and second in the overall A Grade title. Rayner was too strong for Windsor in the dash to the line recording a very fast 1h32m17s for the 6 lap A Grade Championship which is an average of 42.93 kph for the 66km in the tough windy conditions.

B Grade broke up early with Julian Woods and Daniel Googe going on the attack, only Stewart Renshaw and Drew Carter able to get across to the pair. Renshaw tried a few attacks which resulted in Carter losing contract when looking the likely winner. Jilian Woods taking the title by centimenters over Renshaw with Daniel Googe taking the bronze with the trio averaging 38.86 kph on the 5 lap course.

It was a similar story in C Grade with Rob Stephen and Toireasa Gallagher forcing the pace early with only Nev Krahe and Glen Carter remaining in contention. However Stephen and Gallagher kept the pace high and they had the race between them. Stephen averaging 37.04 kph on the tricky circuit defeating Gallagher who finished the top placed female rider in the 2018 Road Championships. Mick Foran recovered from a slow start to take the bronze from Krahe, Wayne Powell and Graham Stait.

D Grade was a tough match up on the 30km Course with Norman Wise out sprinting world masters champion Rosemary Hastings and Caroline Robertson who put in an impressing performance for the bronze infront on Pete McKinnon and former A Grand Champion Jim Allen.

Hot Favourites Craig Hutton and Rob Stephen have won the trophies at the John Butler & Harry Stephen Memorial Events. Both these riders won in 2017 and successfully defended their titles on the weekend.

The Bathurst Wallabies recent membership drive for more female triathletes has been an amazing success with record numbers at Round 2 of the Bathurst Triathlon Season.

The event was contested in very cold tough conditions making the large fields attending the event even more impressive. Overall both Nick North and Mark Windsor repeated their Round 1 performances with Nick a clear winner in the Long Event defeating the rapidly improving Luke Gilmer and newcomer Jack Reen who is showing a lot of potential. Mark Windsor catching Thomas Hanrahan in the bike leg to win the short course event with champion local mountain biker Dan Watson third.

After super performances at the Mudgee Interclub last week Hollee Simons Kirsty Powyer and Jennifer Arnold were again in form making-up the podium on the long course female event. While the female short course was a super race between Stacey Jones and Candice Falconer, who was runner up in her age division at Mudgee, after swimming and riding almost together it was the final transition that Stacey made her move and held on in the run to win by 18seconds.

Certainly another highlight of round 2 was the quality of the junior triathletes in the Boomers race, some of Bathurst’s most talented young athletes are squaring off in this competition.